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By Media General News Service
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says his $3.6 trillion federal budget plan for 2010 begins to deliver on some of his campaign promises.
But the projected $1.2 trillion deficit he’s expecting next year could make it tough for the president to muster congressional approval of everything he’s seeking in his 142-page budget plan.
More details will be released in April, but here’s a rundown of key aspects in Obama’s plan released Thursday:
Health Care
- Establishes a $630 billion reserve fund over 10 years to help pay for the expansion of health care coverage.
- Allows the Food and Drug Administration to expand access to lower cost medications from foreign countries and to new generic drugs.
- Doubles funding for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health.
- Provides funding to speed up adoption of computerized medical record use at hospitals and doctors offices.
Finance and Taxes
- Sets aside $250 billion in a reserve fund in case the administration wants to expand the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program for banks.
- Includes funding for the IRS to improve collection of unpaid taxes.
- Makes permanent the $400 tax credit for workers and the $2,500 tax credit for college expenses.
- Curbs tax deductions on couples earning more than $250,000 starting in 2011.
- Cuts taxes for 95 percent of working families.
Energy
- Imposes a new tax in 2011 on offshore oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and increases user fees and taxes for oil companies leasing federal lands.
- Pays for clean energy projects -- $150 billion beginning in 2012 – by establishing a cap-and-trade system to force polluters to pay for carbon emissions.
- Provides funding to modernize the electric grid.
- Provides funding to pay for technologies to capture carbon emitted by coal.
Environment
- Spends $10.5 billion on the Environmental Protection Agency, a 34 percent increase.
- Increases by $100 million funding for national park facilities.
- Increases by $130 million funding to study the impact of climate change on land, fish and wildlife.
- Ends payments to coal-producing states that have already cleaned abandoned coal mines.
- Increases by $50 million funding for national forests.
Military
- Proposes $533.7 billion for the Defense Department budget, a 4 percent increase.
- Requests $75.5 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September 2009, and $130 billion between October 2009 and September 2010.
- Supports an increase in Army personnel to 547,000 and Marine personnel to 202,000 by the end of 2009.
- Gives the military a 2.9 percent pay raise.
Veterans
- Increases funding for the Veterans Affairs by $25 billion over the next five years.
- Expands the number of veterans eligible for VA care by including veterans of modest income.
- Expands benefits for disabled veterans who retire for medical reasons.
- Expands mental health services for veterans in rural areas.
- Provides funding for implementation of the new G.I. Bill that was passed last year.
Homeland Security
- Provides $42.7 billion for security ranging from border control to cyber security.
- Spends $50 million for new response teams for transit hubs.
- Targets $355 million to the National Cyber Security Division to protect information networks.
- Includes $110 million to expand E-Verify, an electronic employment verification system.
Law enforcement
- Provides $26.5 billion for the Justice Department.
- Provides funding for additional police officers.
- Funds additional FBI agents to investigate mortgage fraud and white-collar crime and boosts the number of federal prosecutors, civil litigators and bankruptcy attorneys.
- Includes $109 million for prisoner reentry programs.
Transportation
- Provides $72.5 billion for road, rail and aviation projects.
- Increases funding for public transit.
- Proposes a five-year, $5 billion state grant program to develop high-speed rail lines.
- Provides $800 million to improve air traffic control.
- Provides $55 million to improve air service in rural areas.
Agriculture
- Invests $20 billion in rural development, including money for renewable energy and broadband.
- Limits payments to keep farmers from overproducing crops to $250,000.
- Launches a pilot program to increase food stamp usage by seniors.
Space
- Sticks with the Bush Administration plan to retire the space shuttle fleet in 2010, but would allow one more shuttle mission before the end of 2010 if it can be done “safely.”
- Continues funding for production of a new vehicle to fly to the International Space Station and, possibly, the moon, by 2020.
- Continues plans for robotic exploration of the solar system.
- Provides $18.7 billion to NASA, a $1.5 billion increase from 2008.
More online: www.whitehouse.gov/omb
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says his $3.6 trillion federal budget plan for 2010 begins to deliver on some of his campaign promises.
But the projected $1.2 trillion deficit he’s expecting next year could make it tough for the president to muster congressional approval of everything he’s seeking in his 142-page budget plan.
More details will be released in April, but here’s a rundown of key aspects in Obama’s plan released Thursday:
Health Care
- Establishes a $630 billion reserve fund over 10 years to help pay for the expansion of health care coverage.
- Allows the Food and Drug Administration to expand access to lower cost medications from foreign countries and to new generic drugs.
- Doubles funding for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health.
- Provides funding to speed up adoption of computerized medical record use at hospitals and doctors offices.
Finance and Taxes
- Sets aside $250 billion in a reserve fund in case the administration wants to expand the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program for banks.
- Includes funding for the IRS to improve collection of unpaid taxes.
- Makes permanent the $400 tax credit for workers and the $2,500 tax credit for college expenses.
- Curbs tax deductions on couples earning more than $250,000 starting in 2011.
- Cuts taxes for 95 percent of working families.
Energy
- Imposes a new tax in 2011 on offshore oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and increases user fees and taxes for oil companies leasing federal lands.
- Pays for clean energy projects -- $150 billion beginning in 2012 – by establishing a cap-and-trade system to force polluters to pay for carbon emissions.
- Provides funding to modernize the electric grid.
- Provides funding to pay for technologies to capture carbon emitted by coal.
Environment
- Spends $10.5 billion on the Environmental Protection Agency, a 34 percent increase.
- Increases by $100 million funding for national park facilities.
- Increases by $130 million funding to study the impact of climate change on land, fish and wildlife.
- Ends payments to coal-producing states that have already cleaned abandoned coal mines.
- Increases by $50 million funding for national forests.
Military
- Proposes $533.7 billion for the Defense Department budget, a 4 percent increase.
- Requests $75.5 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September 2009, and $130 billion between October 2009 and September 2010.
- Supports an increase in Army personnel to 547,000 and Marine personnel to 202,000 by the end of 2009.
- Gives the military a 2.9 percent pay raise.
Veterans
- Increases funding for the Veterans Affairs by $25 billion over the next five years.
- Expands the number of veterans eligible for VA care by including veterans of modest income.
- Expands benefits for disabled veterans who retire for medical reasons.
- Expands mental health services for veterans in rural areas.
- Provides funding for implementation of the new G.I. Bill that was passed last year.
Homeland Security
- Provides $42.7 billion for security ranging from border control to cyber security.
- Spends $50 million for new response teams for transit hubs.
- Targets $355 million to the National Cyber Security Division to protect information networks.
- Includes $110 million to expand E-Verify, an electronic employment verification system.
Law enforcement
- Provides $26.5 billion for the Justice Department.
- Provides funding for additional police officers.
- Funds additional FBI agents to investigate mortgage fraud and white-collar crime and boosts the number of federal prosecutors, civil litigators and bankruptcy attorneys.
- Includes $109 million for prisoner reentry programs.
Transportation
- Provides $72.5 billion for road, rail and aviation projects.
- Increases funding for public transit.
- Proposes a five-year, $5 billion state grant program to develop high-speed rail lines.
- Provides $800 million to improve air traffic control.
- Provides $55 million to improve air service in rural areas.
Agriculture
- Invests $20 billion in rural development, including money for renewable energy and broadband.
- Limits payments to keep farmers from overproducing crops to $250,000.
- Launches a pilot program to increase food stamp usage by seniors.
Space
- Sticks with the Bush Administration plan to retire the space shuttle fleet in 2010, but would allow one more shuttle mission before the end of 2010 if it can be done “safely.”
- Continues funding for production of a new vehicle to fly to the International Space Station and, possibly, the moon, by 2020.
- Continues plans for robotic exploration of the solar system.
- Provides $18.7 billion to NASA, a $1.5 billion increase from 2008.
More online: www.whitehouse.gov/omb